THE USE OF UNCARIA GUIANENSIS IN THE TREATMENT OF
DISEASES IN BRAGANÇA-PARÁ
Marília Araujo Pinto ; Alcides Rufino Oliveira Neto ; Iracely Rodrigues Silva ; Sérgio Moraes ;
Maria Gomes
INTRODUCTION
The low Cat’s Claw is an indigenous plant of the
Amazonian forest and tropical areas of South and
Central Americas. The Incas were the first ones to
use their active ingredients. This plant was described
for the first time in 1830, but only became interesting
in 1970, when a lot of researches in Europe were
accomplished and was proved its real therapeutic
value.
The Uncaria guianensis has been broadly used by
the tribes Aguaruna, Asháninka, Cashibo, Conibo
and Shipibo of Perú and Asháninka, Boras and
Kaiapó of Brazil for at least 2000 years. Nowadays,
who has the oldest registration – about the usage
of Cat’s Claw - is the tribe Asháninka, in the central
area of Peru and in State of Acre, Brazil (Miranda,
2001).
In Jararaca community, as well as in Brazil, the
use of natural medicines is a practical alternative,
sometimes the only one, to combat the several
diseases that attack the area (Diegues, 2000;
Amorozo and Gély, 1988).
For that reason, the present work’s target is to
accentuate the uses and the application/indication
that the community does of the Uncaria guianensis
besides studying its healing properties. The
importance of this research is the conservation and
control of the social-cultural-traditional patrimony.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
This research was accomplished in Jararaca
Community, 21Km far from Municipal district of
Bragança, Pará, that owns a hot humid equatorial
climate. Its rainy station occur among January to
June with precipitations of 2.500mm and
temperature of 25,9°C (INMET, 1992). In the
referred community, live about 218 inhabitants,
distributed in 48 families that benefit themselves
with the alternative medicine in the treatment of
diseases.
In order to obtain the ethnobotanical information,
a questionnaire was applied structured according
to Amorozo (1996), emphasizing the following
information: vulgar name, parts of the used plant,
type of disease, preparation method, dosage, use
and handling. The plant was collected and
herborized according to the method described by
Lin Chau Ming (1996), being identified for
EMBRAPA.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Uncaria guianensis is a “liana”, that blooms from
February to June and it fructifies from April to
August. It develops better in “capoeiras” or in the
borders of rivers and highways, happening to form
great concentrations and reaching from 5 to 10
meters of height. It is usually possible to extract
up about 4kg of bark of each individual (Medina,
2005).
The part that is used to compose the natural
medicines is the bark of the shaft, the root and the
leaves. Its popular use in the community is to
combat headache, constipation and it is good for
the diseases that attack the prostate.
The low Cat’s Claw owns several active ingredients
as oxindole alkaloids, poliphenols, flavonoids,
quinovic acid glycoside, triterpenes and antitumorous. With antioxidant properties, antiinflammatory, anti-tumorous, anti-mutagenic,
cholesterol inhibiters in synthesis and
immunostimulants.
This species is also being used and commercialized
in the USA with a value near of US$ 500 and some
chemist and pharmaco-therapeutics are trying,
through researches, to insert Cat’s Claw as the
main immunostimulant component in the cocktail
of SIDA.
Some active ingredients, if ingested in excess, can
be contraceptive. The plant should not be used by
pregnant or lactic women, even if in few amounts.
Anais do VIII Congresso de Ecologia do Brasil, 23 a 28 de Setembro de 2007, Caxambu - MG
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We can verify that the community makes use of
the plant, according to what the women who
cultivate and prepares the medicine, teach to them,
without the due concern with the contraindications
and toxicities. For this reason, this work aim at to
preserve this traditional knowledge as well as the
vegetable biodiversity, but also to add more correct
information for the community about the plant and
to drop some “myths” that might exist, endangering
this way, the public health of that place.
It is important to increase our knowledge regarding
to Cat’s Claw, because today it is already a
industrial medicine and it is a species that is located
also in the Amazonian, where it happens its largest
concentration, besides having a lot of applicabilities
and few contraindications.
INMET. Normas climatológicas (1961-1990).
Technical report, Instituto Nacional de
Metereologia, Brasília, DF. 1992.
ROCHA, J.C.S.; BARAÚNA, R.A. Avaliação
fitoquímica, toxicológica, antiedematogência e
analgésica de plantas medicinais nativas da
região amazônica. Departamento de Farmácia,
UFPA. 2006.
BOTSARIS, A. S. Fórmulas mágicas: como utilizar
e combinar plantas com o tratamento de doenças
simples. 4ª ed. Rio de Janeiro. Nova Era, 2006.
SHANLEY, P. & MEDINA, G. Frutíferas e Plantas
úteis na vida Amazônica. Belém: CIFOR, Imazon,
2005.
CONCLUSION
In spite of the Uncaria guianensis being a plant
that has so many active ingredients and combats a
lot of diseases, in the Jararaca’s community it is
just used to combat three. However, it is worth to
emphasize that the research team will be returning
to the community to guide the population on the
use and handling of this plant and with that to
optimize its applicability, without damages to the
own health and the local ecosystem.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
AMOROZO, M. C. M. A Abordagem Etnobotânica
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SP: Editora UNESP. 1996.
AMOROZO, M. C. M., GÉLY, A. L. Uso de Plantas
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Barcarena, PA, Brasil. Bol. Mus. Paraense
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Anais do VIII Congresso de Ecologia do Brasil, 23 a 28 de Setembro de 2007, Caxambu - MG
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